Over the course of this year, I have had countless conversations that ended with lamenting the difficulties this year has held. When something difficult happens, it has been easy to respond to the situation by adding it to the list of wrongs 2020 has dealt out:
“2020 just won’t quit.”
“Man, this year!”
“Ugh, 2020!”
“Of course that happened—it’s 2020!”
“2020 is the worst!”
We live in a broken world. It doesn’t take too long to see that. As we all have aged, we’ve had to learn how to do our best to live in this reality in a God-pleasing way. We fail often,...
How often do you think about your thoughts? Hmm, let me think about that. Thoughts matter a great deal to God. The Bible says, “the word of God is living and active, . . . discerning the...
The day I was baptized was a cold day in December. It was five days before Christmas and nearly 17.75 years after my earthly entrance. My pastor helped me to keep the Fourth Commandment...
I stood aside as Denny, a retired police officer, slowly worked through the church narthex. The tall man bent to be at eye level with each child in the church narthex between Sunday...
Ten years ago, my mom and I were tying pieces of silky purple ribbon to the top of dozens of lovely wedding bulletins. It was a few weeks before my wedding, and she and I had had so much...
It’s a tough season for my family. It’s not the toughest it could be. We’re all (mostly) healthy. We’re not looking to move or leave our jobs anytime soon. We’ve settled into a rhythm of...
“Everything will be okay.” “Don’t worry. Be happy.” “Hakuna matata.” These feel-good yet frothy phrases center around an issue that is near and dear to my sinful heart: worry.
Parenting isn’t easy work—we all know that. But what a lot of parents think is even harder is parenting discipleship. God has entrusted parents to be the main faith shapers in their...
“I don’t want to pray right now,” my two-and-a-half-year-old says. I know that these words don’t actually mean she doesn’t want the comfort of prayer, but she doesn’t want to go to bed....
When we have no idea what’s going on or what’s going to happen next, we can find our solid ground in the one who is the author of all things, who has a plan for our lives and well-being,...
My three-year-old and one-year-old had just thrown F5-level meltdowns for the first fifteen minutes of church (some of it in the pew, some of it in the nursery, some outside … you get the...
We long for deep community. We strive for healthy and helpful relationships with family members, church people, and neighbors. But if we’re honest with ourselves, especially as parents,...
We are now entering the one time of year in our world that is focused on being generous, giving back, and serving our neighbors. Bell ringers at stores, social media posts of friends...
Healthy youth ministry extends past the congregation and into teens’ homes. When we considered what young people need, Scripture, research, and youth leaders all pointed to parents as...
Scripture guides us, teaches us about salvation, and communicates the kingdom of God to us. In daily family life, we ought to ever turn to the Word and to works that keep the Word as...
Psalm 119:15–16 states, “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.” When I read this verse, I cannot...
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your...
My wedding anniversary is coming up. Every year midsummer, I think about the vows we made and how we continue to live out those vows. And if I’m being honest, sometimes I think about how...
We’ve all felt the struggle. When you’re sitting in an awkward waiting room, when your kid asks you the same question over and over, when you’re tired at the end of a long day—we struggle...
“Daddy! Daaaaaaaaaaaa-deeee! Daaaaaaaa-daaaaa! Dada! DADA!” My two-year-old cries out in the middle of the night. We can hear her over our audio monitor getting more frantic. She is...
